Exhaustion and the Love War
by OhLovely
Summary: Betty/Henry Betty/Matt Heart Ache, Heart Break, & the Facebook Status. Which love will prevail?
1. Do you believe yourself?

"I can't just forget Matt and I Henry, I love him. And He loves me, he's not going to leave me.. He doesn't live in another state. I can't handle this again."

"I'm so sorry Betty, I've told you so many times. It was just as hard for me to leave. You know that. I didn't want to leave, I didn't want to leave what we had. But I couldn't leave my son, I couldn't. Betty, You know that."

Henry didn't cry often but all of the built up emotion was about to explode because he couldn't take it anymore. Tears were forming and his throat started aching from holding them back. A day didn't go by without Betty popping into his head. He finally got the girl, not the friend and it backfired.

"I know you can't just forget everything going on in your life since i've been gone, but please help me believe that you forgive me."

"I do forgive you, I do, It was just so hard on me. I never thought I'd ever fall in love and have it completely ripped out from under me. I found it and I lost it. You were my first true love and you have to help me get over you for Matt's sake. I love him, but if you're in my life Henry, I can't handle it. I can't. You're leaving to Tucson tomorrow... after that, I can't talk to you anymore. You have to leave me alone..... Because I can't be in love with you anymore."

They were both on the verge of tears. You eventually have to love and let go. Henry didn't want to. The only reason he was still with his girlfriend is because he knew she would be going to New York and it'd be an excuse for him to go too. He never stopped thinking about Betty. He didn't want to leave her alone, but he had to. Henry looked down, looked at Betty and silently whispered "Okay"

They hugged and went their separate ways. It was supposed to be closure but they both held on for longer than they should've.

She sat back down on the bench with her elbows on her knees and her hands on her face. Wiping away all of the tears she held in until he couldn't see her anymore. She hated that he could have that effect on her. Ever since she met him, her heart would stop and go into butterfly mode. She almost forgot the feeling when she met Matt. He gave her butterflies too, but in a different way. Anyways, it didn't matter. Henry was gone and she was going to move-in with Matt. She got up and made her way back home.

She walked back into the house and was surprised to see Matt sitting on the sofa.

"Matt? What are you doing here?"

"I got your message about the job, I figured you were upset so I came here. Hilda said you'd be home soon, so I waited. Are you okay?"

"I think so. I mean there just went my dream, but whatever right?"

"No, you'll make a great editor one day. Maybe you should join me in painting a couple times?"

"Ha ha very funny."

"I was being serious..."

"Oh. I'm sorry, rough day. I'm not a painter though, I think I should leave that one to you."

"You want to stay at my place tonight?" He wrapped his arms around her, swiping the bangs out of her face.

She really didn't want to. Usually she was up for it, actually that's where she spent most nights and that's why she was moving in with him, but she just didn't feel like it. She wanted to in her own room, by herself.

"Would you be extremely disappointed if I stayed in my own room tonight?"

He pulled her close and kissed her forehead, "of course not."

"Thank you, I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay, I love you."

"Love you, too."

She was genuinely happy with him. She loved him, she really did. So why was she starting to second guess things now?

Oh. Because Henry showed up.

She went upstairs, put on her pajamas and was finally relaxed sitting on top of her bed. She was exhausted, yet not tired. She couldn't fall asleep if she tried so she decided to check a few emails on her laptop. Due to lack of self-control caused by an emotionally draining day, she typed in .

She didn't even have to click Henry's page to know he updated his status 5 minutes ago. "Heart aches tonight, don't think Prilosec can fix this one."

Her heart dropped. Her heart ached too. She quickly minimized the link and pulled up her email. Why would he do that to her? He knew she would see it and he knew it wouldn't make her feel any better. She read through a couple emails, deleted her junk mail. She considered responding to Henry, but it would only make things worse so she X'd out and turned off the computer. She was seriously nauseous, she wasn't quite sure if she'd be able to keep her food down tonight. Why did he make her stomach hurt this bad? Maybe she should've stayed at Matt's. She decided to text him since she knew he stayed up late.

"You awake? "

"yep whatsup?"

"can't sleep =/ feelin kinda sick"

"I'm out getting some food want me to stop by?"

"its ok, u don't have to I just wanted to txt u, I knew you'd be up."

He didn't text back after that.

She really wasn't feeling well. It came out of nowhere, was it guilt? or was it that horrible vendor food she had?

She was lying there in pain, she wanted to go take a relaxing bath, but she was afraid moving would make her feel worse.

It all came at once and she raced to the bathroom. Definitely. sick.

She had been sitting on the floor of the bathroom getting sick for about 30 minutes now. When she heard someone knock on the door

"Betty, you okay? it's Matt" she opened the door "Uh huh, I'm okay.. You didn't have to come over" She flushed the toilet again and leaned against the wall.

"I know, but your girlfriend tells you she's sick, you want to take care of her" She smiled and laid her head in his lap as he rubbed her head.

"I realize this isn't the best time to bring this up, but I know you went to the park to see Henry."

She lifted her head up. Not right now, he couldn't do this right now. "How'd you.."

"I was on Facebook, I saw his status update and when I stopped by earlier, Hilda told me you were at the park."

She really wasn't liking this website lately and the fact that Henry's girlfriend suggested they all exchange friend requests to keep in touch.

"Oh. Sorry, I just wanted to talk. I was upset about the job.... I .. "

"Do you still love him?" He cut her off. He hadn't planned on asking her tonight, but he had to know.

"What? I... what do you mean? Henry's part of my past now Matt, really."

"You didn't answer my question." She stared at him in disbelief. She'd either have to lie or tell the truth and neither would be pretty.

"I love you. Henry was my first love so I guess there will always be something there for him, but that doesn't mean I love you less.. You can understand that can't you? You probably still have a place in your heart for your first love.."

"You see Betty, My first love was Angela in the 4th grade... My first true love was you..is you. You love me, but you're in love with him. I've been second best at a lot of things, but I can't compromise this one. It just sucks for you because he's in another state and now I'm going to be gone too. Look at the mess you made."

They always say you say things you don't mean when you're angry, but he meant it. It was harsh, but real. He had never had a stable relationship and his family didn't make things easy on him. He was tired of fixing problems. He was just flat out tired. He could tell from the moment they left the game.

"Where is this coming from Matt? I was ready to move in with you, I am in love with you. Why are you acting like this?"

He got up and opened the door "You know how you felt when Henry told you Charlie came into his life? That's exactly how I feel right now. Except it's worse because I truly loved you."

"But you're not listening to me! I love you!"

"Yeah, you keep saying that, but is that just what you're telling yourself or do you really believe it?" With that he walked downstairs and out the door.

She couldn't believe this night. Now she was getting mad at Henry. She wanted to blame him for everything.

She marched back into her room opened her phone and dialed Henry.

"Hello?"

"I don't love you, I don't"

"Betty?"

"Why did you have to do this to me? It's extremely selfish. I don't love you anymore. I'm over it." She was crying and he could tell

"I'm not going back to Tucson."

"What?..."


	2. Drinks Should Make it Better

"..Betty.. I'm not going back. I'm staying in New York."

"Wha... Why?"

"I have to go.. Just know.. I'm going to be here if you ever need me, even if you just called me in the middle of the night to tell me you didn't love me."

She couldn't bring herself to say anything more. Why wasn't he going back, was it because of her? What about his son? What about his girlfriend?

It definitely wasn't a good night. She needed to go to sleep immediately and fortunately enough, her brain was so exhausted it had no problem letting her drift away into sweet dreams.. or pleasant nightmares.

Bright & early at 6:30AM the alarm blares louder than ever. Work was the last thing she wanted to do, but one thing she was looking forward to just to get all other drama off of her mind. Back to being the assistant for the day. One day she would be editor though, she would fight for it.

"Hey Betty, How's my favorite little taquito?"

Betty rolled her eyes, "Good morning to you too, Marc."

"What's with the slouchy shoulders, no shoulder pads today?"

"I'm not in the mood to make jokes with you today, but if you must know, Matt broke up with me and Henry is still in New York."

"Really?? Delicious drama! Let's go stalk Henry again. Get on Facebook!"

"No Marc, I'm over the games. I'm working."

"Buzzkill.... Don't tell me your drama if I'm not allowed to A) make fun of it, or B) come with with a great plan to make things work."

"Believe me, I don't think any of your plans or a miracle, for that matter, could work in my situation."

Marc walked back to his desk actually feeling a little sad for Betty, which didn't last long because soon after Mandy sent him iChat request.

Betty turned on her computer and of course, logged onto Facebook even though everything in her gut told her not to.

It came to her surprised that Henry was no longer on her friends list.. He wasn't on there at all. She thought about deleting her page many of times, she just assumed he had deleted his. She was bummed, but relieved in a way.

During lunch she decided to sit in the cafeteria alone just to ponder her thoughts for a minute. She just needed to breathe. She got to breathe for about ten minutes until Marc & Mandy jumped to the seats next to her.

"Hey girl!"

"We just wanted to let you know, Henry's the Starbuck's down the street and we're thinking about doing a little detective work, you down!?"

"What? How do you guy's know where he is?"

"Facebook, duh! The stalkerazzi God of all networking websites."

"I thought he deleted his page? He's not on my friends list anymore..."

Marc & Mandy glanced at each other and flipped open their phones.

"He's still on my list..." "He's still on mine, too. Look's like you got blocked."

"Why would he block me? That's ridiculous. Maybe I just didn't see him on there."

"Actually, I'm on your page right now & he's not there. You definitely got blocked."

"Great." Betty put her elbows on the table and her face in her palms. She was so confused.

"Look, if it makes you feel any better. The old Charlie slut left a massive comment saying she was glad Henry isn't the real father on her child."

Marc slapped Amanda on the wrist "Mandy!!!"

"What? Like she wouldn't find out. Plus the whore shouldn't have posted it for everybody to see."

Betty looked up, ".. He's not the father?"

"Guess not sunshine, let's go be Sherlock Holmes & find him at Starbucks."

"Guy's he clearly doesn't want to talk to me. He deleted me, funny thing is last night.. he said he'd be there if I needed him & the first thing he does is delete me from a ridiculous website.... I'm going back to work. Or home. I don't know which yet."

With that she got up, emptied her tray full of food she barely touched and walked back upstairs. She was so emotional lately. She was teary eyed and she had every right to be, but she didn't want it to show at work. She held her breath, praying that nobody would be at the elevators when she got to her floor because it was so obvious that the stress and exhaustion was building up into liquid tears in her eyes. The elevator doors opened and nobody was there, she walked quickly towards her desk and Daniel was right there. Right in her way, she looked up at him and he could tell immediately.

"Betty, are you okay?"

She wanted to say yes and just get to her desk, but she couldn't help it. It just came out. She cried.

Daniel grabbed her hand and pulled her into his office and held onto her. He let her cry. She hardly ever cried in front of him. She always had her strong - brave front up in front of everybody. He knew she had to be really feeling something.

"Hey..." He pulled away and looked at her, "you gotta tell me what's going on." He grabbed her a tissue and she wiped the tears away

"It's nothing. Well, it's not nothing... but it's nothing you want to her. It's drama that I always some how find myself in."

"I heard about Matt.."

"Yeah.. I knew that was coming to an end. I just didn't want to let myself believe it."

"So, this isn't about Matt? Betty, please don't tell me it's about Henry."

She stared at him for a minute.. "No.. not completely. It's everything all wrapped into one. I don't know how to fix it."

"Betty, Henry hurt you, he left you. Please don't tell me you're thinking about going back to him."

"Daniel, you know how much you loved Molly?"

"Yeah.."

"I love Henry.. So much that it hurts. I'm hurting so bad and I hate it so much. I hate love right now."

"Can we make an "I hate love" fan club?" Betty had to smile at that.

"Ah ha! I got a smile out of you. You know what, I'm finished up here after one conference call. You want to get out of here and celebrate how much we hate love?"

"How would we do that?"

"I don't know, go see a gory movie.. have a drink somewhere."

"You know what, that actually sounds good. I'll take you up on that."

"Okay, give me about 20 minutes & we're out of here."

"Thank you, Daniel."

"No Problem."

She was actually looking forward to this. Drinks and a good friend. She wasn't a drinker, but she needed something to take the edge off and nothing could work better. Forgetting Henry, forgetting Matt, forgetting work.. this needed to happen.

________________________________

Sorry it took me so long to update guys, I kind of forgot. :P


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